The ACLU of MS will join MIRA, MS Immigrant Rights Alliance at a press conference today at noon after receiving reports from citizens about ICE raids that started during the weekend of February 18th in Jackson, MS. While the facts surrounding these incidents are still under investigation, the stories are shocking and shameful. We’ve heard stories about ICE officers posing as pizza delivery workers in order to raid apartment complexes, threats and violent acts towards individuals. This is being done despite the Fourth Amendment's prohibition of warrantless intrusions into private homes, which apply to all persons, regardless of immigration status.
This is only a small glimpse of the hateful, race-based profiling that will occur if Mississippi law makers pass Senate Bill 2179, the racial profiling bill that will enable law enforcement to question individuals based on whether or not they look like they were born in this country.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has aggressively stepped up enforcement efforts by conducting numerous and far-reaching worksite and residential raids. The stories that we’ve heard today are not new. ICE has been doing this all over the country. They are known to engage in a pattern and practice of selectively targeting predominantly Latino neighborhoods and worksites; entering people's homes without proper warrants; and manipulating, coercing or intimidating already scared individuals to "consent" to enter their homes in order to conduct interrogations about their immigration status. This is simply unacceptable.
Looking Latino and speaking Spanish is not enough to justify probable cause for questioning and arresting a person. We live in a country where the Constitution ensures that all persons should be given equal protection and fair treatment under the law regardless of the color of their skin, their appearance or their accent.
For More Information, contact: Nsombi Lambright, 601-573-3978
